Blackwell Reference Online

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Youth is defined for the purposes of this discussion as youngsters between 6 and 18 years. Sport means all sport activities practiced outside the physical education curriculum. Consequently, school sport as extra-curricular activity is also included. With the start of the Sport for All movement in the 1960s and 1970s, this period can be characterized as the years of growth for sport. Youth sport at that time was mainly an activity for adolescents and pre-adolescents that took place in sports clubs or during extra-curricular training at school. Now the age to begin participating in youth sport has decreased to 7 years or even younger. This policy of attracting younger children to become involved in organized sport is based not on pedagogical objectives but on those related to “survival.” Sports clubs want to remain in the market because their economic existence is threatened. Sport has become a very popular leisuretime activity among youth. In most countries, at least 50 percent of all children in their early teens are active in various sports. Most of these activities take place in a sports club or during extra-curricular training at school. More boys than girls are active in sports. Sports segregate the sexes as few other phenomena do. Boys and girls seldom take part in sports together. Some of the most common youth sports globally are soccer among boys and swimming among both ... log in or subscribe to read full text